First local Elstar apples
For Obst Häusler in the heart of the tourist region Allgäu, Bayern, it’s all about vegetables right now, according to manager Barbara Thuy-Pichl: “We’re currently selling a lot of vine tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes and bell peppers. All that’s needed for a good barbecue, actually. There’s much demand for lettuce at the moment as well, leafy lettuce and coloured lettuce, among other types, are in focus to that end. The high-end gastronomers we supply, on the other hand, ask mainly for exclusive, refined products such as mini-leaves and edible flowers, as well as exclusive varieties of cress.”
Regarding fruit, the wholesaler currently sells all of the typical summer fruits. “We sell, among other things, melons, nectarines, peaches and plums. Pineapple from Ghana also does extraordinarily well right now. Quality is stable with high brix levels, and the short distance over sea is another convincing argument. Moreover, we also sell watermelon now because of the high, summery temperatures. Both seedless melons from Spain and Italian seeded varieties.”
Early apple varieties such as Delbar and Discovery are available on the market as well: “Last week, we received the first batches of Elstar apples from regional production. Moreover, as an addition to this we also have Italian Gala apples in our range. Additionally, our berries are also selling well this year, although the season is currently ending.” For gastronomy suppliers, the season usually lasts until mid-September. “The Allgäu still has many tourists then.”
Pineapple and melon frontrunners
Every year, the island of Sylt on the Baltic coast is overrun by both national and international tourists during the summer holidays. In total, 400 restaurants can be found here, according to Yvonne Danklefsen, manager of Decker Sylt Fruchtgroßhandel: “Our clientele consists for the most part of high-end gastronomers and other gastronomy. Current demand is extremely large because of the heat and the summer holidays. All product groups are now actually doing very well, from all varieties of lettuce to berries. However, melons and pineapples are the true frontrunners.”
Throughout the year, the higher gastronomy mostly has demand for special products, such as mini-carrots, according to Yvonne. “However, this is always just a small share, for the crowded pavement cafés in summer, varieties of lettuce mostly do very well.”
All lettuce varieties
Stephan Nehler, manager of Rasmussen Fruchtgroßhandel from Lübeck, also supplies gastronomers on the Baltic coast. “We’re currently selling all varieties of leaf lettuce and butterhead lettuce, as well as cucumbers and tomatoes. Besides, there’s naturally also a lot of demand for large volumes of fruit such as berries and watermelons.”
According to Stephan, some interesting developments can now be seen in pricing due to the weather: “Tomatoes are very cheap at the moment, but the price levels of potatoes, on the other hand, are very high, because part of the harvest was lost here in the north.”
